Final Fantasy 0 The World Clash Disaster
by FlameEye
Summary: Slash, a boy expert in videogames and card games, discovers something wrong is happening with his world. When he finds out what is going on, it is too late. The biggest clash in anime and games!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Best Player in the World! 

Everyone had been waiting for this moment, the International Trading Card Tournament, where all kinds of people from all over the world gather, to play every kind of Card Game made. The stadium was enormous; lights everywhere; so much people that standing anywhere you could feel the ground shake. The finals had just ended, and the winner had just been decided…

"/Sugoi! Sugoi/ Absolutely incredible! For the _third_ consecutive year, we got Slash Shirohi, winner of the International Trading Card Tournament!" the announcer cried.

Directly from Japan, that's me, Slash Shirohi! Yes, I'm that green eyed guy standing over there. No, not that one, the one with the semi-long, brown hair! Yes, the one with the loose shirt and cargo pants! Yup, the thin guy with the trophy and the big smile on his face is me.

"/Mina-san/ Everyone! It's _The Master_!" Whoa! I had to take cover, everyone came running at me! Ha! How could I forget that day? I won such an important tournament, and I still couldn't believe… that I did it three times consecutively! If you don't believe me, I have the trophies in my room in case you want to see.

Oh… why did they call me The Master and not The Card Master? Because, I'm also a freaking expert in videogames! That's right; I've also won many videogame tournaments, as impossible as it might sound. Not only that, I love _any_ kind of anime, and I enjoy reading whenever I have the time (which _never_ happens). And well, you could say I'm probably a show-off.

But, I wasn't really happy with winning. I wasn't satisfied; I couldn't fill the "hole" inside me. That was probably, one of my worst defects. Something couldn't stop me from competing; maybe, one day; I could find what I really wanted in a competition. Maybe it's because I meet so many people, and one of them could hold the key to filling my "hole".

After escaping from the crazy spectators and journalists, I got on my way home. It wasn't very long, just about a mile and a half. I got through a long park, and then a small piece of street. Along the way, I remembered some weird stuff that happened to me on the tournament…

Before the last battle, I went to the bathroom. It was a big bathroom, probably not that big if you compared it to the insane amounts of people in the stadium. The bathroom's walls were colored light brown, while the ceiling and the floor were a whitish color. The place was empty, since the people were already waiting outside for the final match. Sound could be heard even inside the bathroom, the whole building was shaking of excitement. I washed my face with cold, fresh water. While I did, I stared at the mirror. It was as huge as the bathroom; it covered the wall from side to side. Somehow, it happened so quickly I couldn't even distinguish it, but I saw something else reflected on the mirror. It was a strange feeling, like if everything was distorted. I stood on the center… and everything else was just flames, a sea of fire; everything was destroyed and burning like a huge fireplace. There where no walls anymore, the place was in ruins. Red is the perfect way to describe how everything looked. No, it didn't look, it _felt_. I wasn't seeing anything, I was _feeling_. I can't describe it better than that; it just felt like _something _had crashed on the whole place. But, maybe it was just my imagination… it had to be, right? It was probably too much excitement before the last battle, right? Wrong.

"I'm home, mom! Did you see the tournament?" I cried as I entered the house. It was an average-sized, Japanese-style house, with two floors. The whole place was mainly wood, and the ceiling wasn't very high. It's as typical as typical gets. There was a woman at the first room to the right, the kitchen. It was brown, as the rest of the house, but a lighter tone.

"Congratulations, Slash! You won again!" my mom cried, coming to give me a hug. Ah, my mom. What would I do without her? Oh, she's thinner than me, not very tall, and has brown hair, also (now that I think about it, everything's brown around here). She's always been very nice to me, that's why I've try to give her the best of me.

It was getting late, the dark skies where already covering this part of the earth. In a few minutes, my friends Lucy and Ken were coming to my house. I was in my crowded room, waiting for them. It's as crowded as it can get. On the right is a wooden desk, where my laptop and my _Manga _collection rest. On the left, was the 15 inch LCD television on its' wooden stand, with all the videogames on a separate stand. My bed was located straight across the room, facing the TV. Lucy and Ken were my best friends, they came every Friday to play videogames, eat pizza, and sleep overnight.

"Yo Slash! Congratulations!" Ken said. Cool! Ken and Lucy arrived, ready for an exciting _Super Smash Bros. Melee_ battle! Oh, my friends? Well, Ken was 14, just like me, and Lucy was 13. Ken is strong looking, unlike me, and he has black, short hair. He's eyes are black, and he tends to wear tight shirts so that he can show-off his complexity. I guess we both are show-offs.

"We saw the tournament on the TV!" Lucy said. Lucy? She's very thin, with light blue eyes and brown, long hair. She likes to wear loose shirts and cargo pants, which is totally uncommon for a girl around here. Actually, they weren't only my best friends, they were my only friends. Most other people just came with me for advice on their decks, or tips to defeating a certain boss in a videogame. We've been friends since our childhood. I don't know what I would do without them.

Time to sleep! We turned off the _Gamecube_, and got ready to sleep. Lucy, as always, was sleeping on my bed. Ken and I were going to sleep on the floor, in sleeping bags.

"Good night!" I told them.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep, without knowing I would never sleep the same way again…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2** – _It All Starts – The World Clash Disaster!_

'What… is it? What is this? Is that… the earth? Why is it all in flames?' I asked.

'Soon, everything will fade away. Everything will be gone' a voice said.

'Who are you?'

'It doesn't matter, for everything will no longer exist. A new beginning awaits'

'What do you mean by a new beginning? What is happening to my home?'

'Everything will be destroyed; reality will suffer a change like none other'

'Why will it be destroyed? Isn't there any way to prevent that from happening? Why does it have to end that way?'

'You can't prevent it, or anyone else. It's the earth's destiny, it's everybody's destiny. It's the destiny people chose'

'Why! Tell me! I want to do something about it!"

'You can't. Of all people, you should be prepared…"

"Wait!" I cried.

My eyes opened. I was still in my room. It was dark. It was just a dream.

"Ugh, what is it Slash? It's kind of early right now, its still 5" Ken told me. I was fully conscious now, never had I seen a dream like that one. I couldn't get rid of the image of seeing the earth destroyed; it had been a long time since I'd been so scared.

"I-I had a dream, there was the earth, and everything was in flames! Also, there was this voice…"

"Oh, come on Slash, just go to sleep, I'm very tired. You're going to wake up Lucy" he told me.

Yeah, he's right. It was only a _dream_, as real as it had been. I just had to close my eyes again, and get some more sleep. It was difficult, with the dream's images still circling around my head. But as any dream, it was only a matter of time before I forgot it.

…

"Come on Slash, it's time already!" Lucy cried.

"Wha? What time is it?" I asked.

"2 o'clock, Slash!" Ken told me.

"WHAT?" I cried. It was very late already. Today is Saturday, right? That means its movie day! There's this movie I've been waiting so much for it to come out, and it just happens I overslept! Darn!

As fast as I could, I got my stuff ready and got dressed. Thankfully, Ken and Lucy where already ready. Just in time, we got on our way to the movies.

"Bye mom! We'll come later!" I said.

"Ok Slash, be careful. Love you son!" she said in response. Strong words that will stay with me for a very, very long time.

I love how near my house is to everything. The cinema was pretty close, about 20 minutes. School was even nearer, 5 minutes. Anyway, we arrived just in time, and watched the movie.

…

"It's one of the best movies I've ever watched!" Lucy cried, she was about to burst in excitement.

"Yeah, I completely agree with you. Full of monsters, magic, action and… well practically everything I love in movies" Ken said.

"Too bad it's not real. It would be SO cool if it were" I said. But it did felt real to me. I felt like if I was in the movie, like if I could feel everything that was happening. It also happened since the tournament, I just didn't feel all right since I felt the flames. God! They were so real I could actually feel them burn. And what about my dream? I tend to forget about dreams, but this one was so real the images where still in my mind. But anyway, what was real? What _is_ reality?

On our way home, the temperature had decreased 10 degrees Celsius. We now had 15 degrees Celsius, and we weren't prepared clothing wise, so we hurried our way.

Along the way, something incredible happened. The temperature continued decreasing, and _fast_. But it wasn't something I could feel, but rather see. I definitely hadn't felt the last 10 degrees, but I could see Ken and Lucy shivering.

"Ca-can't you feel the cold Slash? It's frea-freaking cold! I feel like if I'm going to fre-freeze!" Ken cried, his voice sounded cut.

"Let's get home already!" Lucy cried. I sensed she was just about to cry.

Why couldn't I feel the cold? Had I lost my nerves or had I become insane?

Things got even worse, it started snowing. Little by little, the frozen drain droplets began falling to earth. They were so much that the road had begun to accumulate snow in such a way that we had trouble walking through it. So much for being close to home when we couldn't even walk through.

"Guys, are you ok? I still can't feel the cold…" I said as I turned to look at them, only to find one of the biggest shocks in my life…

They were frozen – literally. They were like ice cubes, frozen in the middle of their walk. I touched them, expecting the cold feel of ice. Zero, none, nothing. No cold again. I felt sad. I started to cry.

"Why can't I feel the cold? What is happening to me… to the world?"

Could this be another dream? No – it wasn't. I immediately realized my dream was more than just a dream, it was the future, or the present as it was turning. As the voice had told me, reality was suffering a change. This is something that can't happen, it's not _scientifically _possible.

But it didn't stop. Tornadoes were forming, snow tornadoes. I could see the unusually white tornadoes far away. As if it weren't enough, I could see many buildings on fire, and the roads where beginning to flood and tremble with earthquakes. The sky was orange, full of thunder and lighting, just like in my dream. A catastrophe of any natural disaster you could think of.

Knowing I couldn't do anything to save my best friends, I started to run home. Everyone I knew and everyone I didn't were frozen solid. Still, I couldn't feel the cold, the snow, or even the water flowing under my feet.

At last, I arrived. As I expected, my mother was also frozen. Still crying, I ran upstairs to my room and threw myself to the bed, full of fear.

"Why is this happening? I want to wake up from this nightmare!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3** – _Enter Yandara!_

Crying was definitely not going to help. I was probably the only person on earth not frozen. But how much good could I do anyway? I was just a boy, and this was _earth_ itself that was suffering. Was this a punishment for the sins of human beings? Or was it just destiny for it all to end like this?

Anyway, I wasn't doing any good. Without thinking it twice, I grabbed my bag and went outside my house. Why did I grab my bag? I don't know, but I'd be thankful that I did it in the future.

Now, for even a bigger surprise, I saw something else than the orange sky above. There was a sphere, a glowing, metallic golden sphere. It was small (well, compared to the size of the moon), but it was growing rapidly. Surrounding the sphere, very far away, where three enormous planets resembling earth. Whatever it was, it was the scariest thing I had ever seen. It felt like if three big meteorites where coming right towards where I was standing.

'Could that be… a planet?' I thought to myself.

It stopped growing. I could barely see the formation of the planet since it just stopped glowing.

"There has to be something I can do! Earth can't simply end this way! Please, let _me_ do something!" I cried as hard as I could, crying. Immediately after, I heard a rumbling sound, and before that, I fainted. This was the end of it…

…

"Am I… dead?" I told myself. I could barely open my eyes with the strong daylight hitting them. It seemed like my body was all right, but where the hell was I? It looked nothing like earth. There was a long range of mountains on my right-hand side, the tallest mountains I had ever seen. It was like seeing a giant wall that reached the sky. The foot of the mountain range was filled with trees all along. After that, a beautiful plain covered with nothing but a very green grass and some rocks extended for some kilometers against the mountains until it reached the vast ocean on my left-hand side. It was the most beautiful scenario I had seen in my whole life. It felt so peaceful it made me forget about everything.

As I stood up, I realized what was covering the bright sun. I was lying beside a tree, an enormous tree. In fact, it was the biggest tree I had ever seen. Hence, I didn't even know if I should call it that, it was too big to be _just_ a tree.

This was definitely not my world. What has happened to me? To my friends? To my family? I was scared, but at least more calmed. I had to find clues, I had to find answers. But where to start? I decided to see what was behind the giant tree, so I began walking around it.

The view was different this time. There was a small, concrete road, and at the end of it where some tall buildings, many of them. It _had _to be a city. There had to be people, someone to ask where I was. So, I began my journey to the unknown, to the beautiful and mysterious land that was waiting for me to arrive.

As I was walking through the road, I realized there where no living things. No animals, not even a bird or two. The only sounds I could hear where my footsteps and the wind itself. Sometimes, a strong wave could be heard from the ocean crashing against rock. Also, I began to see more and more trees as I was walking.

'A forest' I thought to myself as I was walking through the path. It seemed endless.

Finally, I heard a different sound, something that I definitely didn't want to hear. A howl. Not one, but three howls coming from the mountains.

'Wolves?' I told myself. 'Now I'm in trouble'

From the dark shadow of the trees I could begin to distinguish three small figures each time becoming bigger to my eyes. Faster than I thought, they finally could be clearly seen. There where creatures I had _never_ seen before. They resembled more to a dog with large fangs. With no other choice than to hide, I went on the back of the first tree I saw. It was probably completely useless, since most animals of their kind had the ability to smell. But what else could I do, fight against them?

I peeked to see if they where still there. Of course they where, but now they stopped and where looking in another direction, where someone stood with the shape of a human accompanied by a small creature. Both of them seemed really familiar, somehow, I _knew_ both of them.

"Thundershock, now!" the instantly recognizable male voice cried. I couldn't believe what my ears where hearing and my eyes were seeing – the little creature next to the human released a jolt of thunder from his body against one of the dog-like monsters. That was enough to scare it and the other two, and they ran back to where they came from.

"Are you all right?" he asked. I got closer to both of them. There was no doubt about it, whether or not this was a dream, in front of me was the most popular of all the Pokémon trainers, Satoshi! And next to him was his trusty starter Pokémon, Pikachu! I couldn't believe it!

"Yeah, but, huh, who, what the… is going on?" I asked him, as if he might know anything. I could barley talk from such a big surprise. Was I going mad?

Pikachu jumped on Satoshi's back. "You aren't from this world, right?" he asked.

"De-definitely not. I was in my world when everything was a whole, complete disaster, like if everything was coming to an end. So this couldn't be possibly where I came from, heck, I don't know this place at all" I told him. This wasn't Kanto, Johto or Hoenn, was it? I definitely couldn't recognize any place, and I've been seen every episode so far.

"Just as I thought. It's exactly my same story!" he said, as he gave me a bag. "This is yours, right Slash?"

It seems my bag also made it here. "Yeah it's mine, thanks" I said. I felt really strange saying that, never in my life had I even thought this might happen.

"By the way, my name is Satoshi. This little fellow is Pikachu" he said.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu said, whatever it meant. Of course, I already knew them, but I weren't telling them. It would be plain weird for them to hear that. This was like a dream come true, never had I thought that the Satoshi I saw on the anime show would be talking with me.

"Let's go" he told me "If you see any more Dingo, tell Pikachu and he'll get rid of them" Dingo? That surely sounded familiar. I was pretty sure I had heard that name in the past.

"How did you know its name?" I asked.

"It appeared on this thing" he said. It was strange, the size of a closed _Nintendo DS_. It had different slots; one for placing something the size of a trading card game inside a glass, and in the left side of it was something to placing something the size of a coin and on top of it was a small LCD color screen and some buttons, and probably where the name of the monster appeared. It was of yellow color, and was made of some type of material similar to aluminum, lightweight and resistant. Whatever it was, I didn't know at that time.

"So what's that anyway?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know. It was in front of me when I arrived here. I thought you might have an idea what it is, since you also had one in your bag" he told me.

In my bag? I opened my back and saw one, of an orange whitish color. I also had my laptop with me, as well as some magazines, some card decks, and some random stuff that was usually helpful, like a notebook and a towel. My laptop is quite small, with a 10.6" screen. However, there where two decks missing, the Pokémon and the Digimon ones. "Did you by any chance take anything out?" I asked. What had happened with my decks?

"No, it was like this when I found it in the road to the city. It was opened though, so I just closed it" he said "Let's just go to the city, they're waiting for us"

_They_? What did he mean by that? I just followed him, onto the big city of the new world.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4** – _Big Surprises_

Wait a second… how did he know my name?

"Uh, excuse me Satoshi, how did you know my name?" I asked. Satoshi smiled.

"Easy, that's what your bag says – ITC Tournament Champion: Slash Shirohi" he said. I sounded dumb asking, I just laughed.

After a while of walking through the forest, we arrived to the city's outskirts. The city was full of people everywhere I looked. There where all strangely dressed, and most of them had weapons. Yeah, _weapons_ of all kinds, from swords to lances and some I hadn't even seen before. It was a little bit frightening, and somehow weird, since the only weapons people commonly used in my world where guns.

Grocery stores, item shops, weapon shops, inns, etc. This place meant business. But where was I? If this isn't earth, then what is it? Where am I?

"Wait here Slash" Satoshi said. We arrived to a park, a pretty big one. It had no trees, just many bushes and a very green grass. Satoshi walked away, leaving me there. I just lied down and saw the people walking by.

Everyone looked strange at me, since I was wearing some really strange clothes. Well, not that a shirt and jeans where more strange to what everyone else was wearing. I wanted to try and ask someone where I was, but it just might sound stupid to them. Besides, I am very shy, and I have never talked to many people, although I have played against thousands of them.

I saw a sign that read "Techdra Plaza". Whatever it meant, I hadn't heard that name before. Where had Satoshi gone? I closed my eyes and felt the relaxing wind in my face.

I began to remember my world. The last images of everyone that had frozen, Ken, Lucy and my mom. The world in a complete chaos, everything coming to an end. The planets above and the golden sphere… could that golden sphere be…

"Excuse me, are you Slash?" another familiar female voice said. As I opened my eyes, I saw _another_ known figure. I couldn't believe what my eyes where seeing once again. In front of me was Sakura Kinomoto, from Sakura Card Captors! And hovering next to her was the guardian of the Clow Book, Kerberos! This had to be a dream; I had to be insane for all of this to be happening!

"Sla-Sla-Slash? Yeah, that's my name. I believe that you're not from this world also, right?" I asked, pretending not to know who she was again. Sakura signed, and then made a soft smile.

"Yes. Thanks God I found you. My name's Sakura Kinomoto, pleased to meet you. He's Kerberos, Kero for short" she told me.

"Hi boy" Kero said. I nodded. He was actually talking, just like I saw on the anime. How could this be?

"Have you by any chance found Satoshi? He was looking for you" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, he found me in the forest, then he left me here and went to look for you" I told her.

"I hope he doesn't get lost, this city is really big" she said "We went around the city to gather information while Satoshi went to look for you. However, whenever I tell them that I'm from another world, they just think I'm nuts" Of course that's what people thought, who wouldn't? That's probably what they would've thought of me if I'd asked. But why did she say _we_? Satoshi wasn't with him, unless he was talking about Kero…

"Was there someone else besides you and Kero?" I asked.

"Yes, it was…" Sakura said, only to be interrupted by someone. Someone I _also_ knew.

"And me!" he said. On my back appeared another boy. If Satoshi and Sakura weren't enough, Takato Matsuki from Digimon Tamers was standing right in front of me! On his left-hand side was standing Guillmon, the Digimon he created! "I believe I also share the same story as yours, right Guillmon?"

"Right Takato" the red Digimon said. Wow, first a flesh and meat Pikachu, then a Kerberos, and now a Guillmon. This world was surely filled with surprises in every corner.

"He-hello Takato" I said.

How could all of this be real? Then it came to my mind again, I remembered that faint voice: _'Reality will suffer a change like none other'_. What was real anyway? I just lost whatever meaning of reality, physics and science I had with me.

"Let's wait for Satoshi" Sakura said.

"No need for it!" Satoshi said, running towards us, with Pikachu on his back.

"Hey, your back" Takato said. Incredible, first I met Satoshi, then Sakura, then Takato, each of them wearing their usual clothing.

"Now we're complete" Sakura said "The only important thing I found about this place is that this planet's name is Yandara" Yandara? Never heard of it. However, something was still troubling my mind; I _know_ I have heard the name of the monster that attacked us.

"Let's search more, there has to be someone that believes us" Satoshi said, feeling kind of disappointed.

"Let's do. We don't have anything to lose. Besides, what else can we do?" Takato said, also sounding a little bit down. Who wouldn't be? Your world is probably destroyed and you're with people you don't know but share your same story. That's enough to make anyone cry.

We continued walking around the city. It felt quite disturbing for everyone to be seeing us strange, but we were also looking back, so I guess it was okay. We saw a big construction in the air suspended by five pillars. It was egg-shaped and there seemed to be a lot of people on top. They were raging over some big event. One of the pillars hanging in the air held a sign reading "Card Stadium No. 2". Was this like the tournament places in my world? Maybe not, we had to see to find out.

"I'm hungry Takato" Guillmon said.

"Pika-pikachu" Pikachu said. They did sound hungry, but they weren't the only ones with their stomachs empty. I was also starving.

"This is going to be difficult. We don't have any money, if we don't find a way to get money, we'll starve to death" Sakura said.

"Are you hungry? Don't you have any Gil?" a girl said. She was somewhat blonde, and had very black eyes. "Hi there. Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but I overheard. Are you from far away or something like that? You are wearing some pretty strange clothing" she asked.

Gil? I had heard that term on some RPG games, especially in the Final Fantasy series.

Then, faster than lighting, it came to me…

"Wait! Final Fantasy!" I cried.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5** – _Welcome – its Final Fantasy!_

Final Fantasy! Of course, that was it!Dingo, the name of the monster that attacked us earlier, was a monster from the game _Final Fantasy X_! Could this be by any chance… a Final Fantasy world? Was that the reason why everyone was carrying weapons? Maybe, just maybe, this was the answer to many of my questions. But how could it be? I had played and finished every Final Fantasy game, and this wasn't like anything I had seen before. And with what purpose?

"What did you say?" the girl asked me. Everyone was staring at me.

"Oh, sorry, I was thinking out loud" I responded.

"Whatever. Want to go for something to eat? It's all on me" she asked "Of course; you have to talk about the place you came from in exchange"

"All right!" Sakura, Takato, and Satoshi cried all together. But what should we tell her? The unbelievable truth?

We went to the pillar on my right-hand side. It had some sort of connection to the Card Stadium above. As we entered, we saw the place was very luxurious, so I was beginning to get worried about the prices. It resembled the entrance of a fancy hotel, except the only thing that was there were an elevator and some seats to wait for it.

We arrived at an elevator and the girl pressed a button, and it started to ascend. Half the elevator was glass, so people could see outside the city. As we rose, I could see the Card Stadium better. There where thousands of people in the stadium. On the middle, there was a fight that somehow resembled those of _Yu-Gi-Oh!_; on two raised platforms in each side of the stadium were two persons battling against each other. The stadium was covered by a transparent glass on the top part of it. I couldn't see with what where they battling, though.

The elevator finally arrived to the top floor, and we got out of it. The restaurant was something like I had never seen (though, there isn't much in this world I have actually seen before). The layout was very original; the whole place was between two pillars suspended in the air, one of them being where we arrived. It was a straight rectangle, with exception of the pillars that were part of it. On the middle of the restaurant was the stadium just bellow. However, the floor was made of a transparent glass so the battles could be seen from above, while people could enjoy from a delicious dish or a refreshing drink. Quite original, but scary if you've never walked on glass a few hundred meters above ground. I guess that's why it's called "Card Game" Restaurant.

A waiter sat us on one of the tables, close to the middle. It was a table for six persons, and we were five, not counting Pikachu, Guillmon and Kero. Fortunately, Guillmon was the only one that used up much space, and the one that gained more attention from the people that were already in the restaurant.

Almost everyone ordered Hamburgers, with the exception of a few sandwiches. The food was quite good, and it tasted even better since I was very hungry. It did trouble me that we weren't paying, but the girl told us she'd pay, so it calmed me a bit.

I was staring downstairs, feeling a little bit nauseous. I could clearly hear all the people crying from below things like "Card unlock!" or "Attack!" and "Defend!" from speakers placed all over the restaurant. It certainly looked like _Yu-Gi-Oh!_, since they were using cards to attack, but also resembled the way the battles where held in _Pok_é_mon_, especially because of the commands that were given. With all the experience I had in card games, I immediately began to learn and understand all the basics of the card game as we were sitting on the Card Game Restaurant.

"My name's Crystal" she said "What are your names?"

I continued with the conversation, since the others where mouthful "Her name's Sakura, he is Takato, and he is Satoshi. I'm Slash"

"Where do you come from? And why are your _monsters_ so weird? Never seen them before" Crystal asked. I gulped another piece of my hamburger. What should we say? Should we lie?

"Monsters?" Satoshi asked. "Pikachu's a Pokémon" he said.

"Pokémon? Wasn't Pikachumon a Digimon?" Takato asked.

"A Digi-what? What're you talking about?" Satoshi said.

"What are _you_ guys talking about?" Sakura asked. Hearing the conversation was funny. It's pretty logical that they've seen the same kind of "monsters" all their lives and they are used to them, so seeing a different kind would make no sense to them.

"Um… let's just say that where we come from, we call the "monsters", as you call them, a different name" I said, trying to fix the problem.

"Well, okay, I'll just ignore that. Which weapons do you use? You seem to be carrying some small ones…" Crystal said.

"_Weapons_? What're you talking about? Carrying weapons is dangerous and illegal" Sakura said. Of course, but that was in our worlds, this word's rules are different.

"What do you mean illegal? It's illegal _not_ to use them!" Crystal cried "We have to buy some weapons this instant!"

As soon as Crystal finished talking, she stood up and rushed to the counter. "Charge that on my dad's, ok?" she said. We followed her to the exit of the restaurant.

We continued rushing through the city following Crystal. She seemed very worried by this weapon issue. After a few blocks, we arrived to a weapon store, called "Weapon Central". It was humongous, like an only-weapon store the size of a _Wal-Mart_. The inside had many isles with weapons separated into different categories.

"Go and select one. Just remember that only people over 18 years old can use guns" Crystal told us "Don't worry about the prize, I'll pay it" Why was she being so generous? Isn't she being _too_ much generous?

I started to walk around the isles, aside from the others. I felt like a kid buying his first toy. I was excited, never in my life had I thought I would buy something else than a kitchen knife. Certainly, it was exciting and frightening at the same time. Axes, lances, even guns… they had a wide variety of weapons. But I was looking for a specific kind – swords. I've always liked swords; it's been my favorite weapon in all RPGs.

I couldn't find any sword I liked. "There _has_ to be something around I like"

"Are you looking for anything special?" an employee asked me.

"Not really, but if you have any special sword or something similar, it would be great" I told him.

"You look like a lucky guy. Why not try the S-Rang Prototype?" he asked me. Why not? It sounded interesting. He took me to the storage, and placed a black box on a wooden table. It had an insignia that read "S-Rang Prototype V1 Razor". He took out the weapon, which had a very strange shape. He handed me the tube-shaped weapon. I had never held something like it.

"What is it? How does it work?" I asked.

"It's quite simple actually. Hold it like this and just think it's a sword. Be careful with hold you hold it and which side it's facing" he said. _Think_ it's a sword?

'Sword' I thought. Immediately, I felt a small click in my hands, and the object began to glow. Right after some more clicking, the object grew two blades from the upper side of it. It now looked like a two-blade sword.

"Whoa!" I cried. Awesome! It's the coolest sword thingy I've ever seen!

"It's the newest ma-tech that's being developed right now, but we just have prototypes. It works by detecting brain waves, then; it transforms to what the user thinks, in this case, a sword. With a mix of a magic and technology, the sword comes to life" the employee said. "However, since it's still a prototype, we sell it to half the price, and only to whoever can use it. It's still not working at 100, since it can only detect certain brain waves"

Neat! This _is_ the most amazing sword, ever! I was really excited!

"There are still other features that you can unlock, but you need to install the upgrades. We don't have them here; you can only get them at the company. This specific model is called Razor, and its blades are made of steel" he told me. "It's not the best steel quality out there, but you can buy new blades over at the company"

"Cool! What's the name of the company?" I asked.

"Um, you serious? Of course it's Ma-tech Corp., what else?" he told me and gave me a confused look. Yeah, of course I didn't know, I'm not from around here.

I walked back to the counter. Crystal was talking with someone, and the others where already there. Sakura had a staff, Takato had a pair of claws, and Satoshi chose a lance. Satoshi and Takato looked real funny; I never saw them with weapons before. But Ken and Lucy would laugh if they saw me with weapons also.

"Ok, all set!" cried Crystal. "Tell my dad about the weapons, ok? See you later!"

Dad? Was he the store owner? No wonder she's rich! With a world that's obliged to use weapons, it's almost as if selling food – you're almost guaranteed to gain a profit out of it. And this store's big!

"Thanks for the weapons and the food Crystal" I said.

"You've been really nice to us with no good reason, thanks a lot" Sakura said.

"You're welcome. I guess you have no place to stay the night, or have you rented a hotel?" Crystal asked. She's right! It was getting late and we had absolutely no place to sleep.

"We have no money, Crystal" Satoshi said.

"We'll probably sleep in the park or somewhere else" Takato said.

There was a complete silence. I sighed. What were we going to do now? We couldn't rely on Crystal for the rest of our lives. We had to find a way to get Gil, we had to find a _job_.

"Just tell me guys – who are you, really? Who starts a journey with no money and equipment, even weapons?" Crystal asked. Uh-oh, now we started to look suspicious. However, at that same time, something else caught my attention.

From a group of crowded people, people were screaming "I'll buy it!" or "I'll give you more!"

Curious, I approached the sneaky-looking alley, ignoring Crystal and the others. Something attracted me to the crowd. As I sneaked through, I saw three men selling coins and cards. As I took a glance at the cards, I realized that there where no ordinary cards, there were _my_ cards! My lost two decks! Some strangers were selling my precious decks to random people!

A furious rage that began to grow inside me, I'd been a long time since I'd been that mad. I cried my lungs out "Stop thieves! Give me my cards back!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6** – _Chase the Thieves! Fly Around the City!_

So that's were my cards had disappeared to! But when did that happen? When did they steal the cards from me? I went and stood right in front of one of the thieves. He turned his attention to me, and made a face that immediately told me he had seen me before.

"I told you to give me my cards back!" I demanded angrily. I immediately caught the thieves and the crowd's attention, but barely noticed, focusing my attention solely on the cards. It seemed they had barely been opened, and they hadn't sold a single card, thankfully.

"Hey guys, it's that kid from before!" one of them said. They were three thieves in total. Was there anyway I could take on the three of them? I was no wimp at that time, but I was never as strong as my friend Ken. And they didn't look weak, either.

I had few options, either wait for Crystal and the others, or try to get them back and run away without getting into too much trouble. Either option was going to give me trouble, anyway, but I decided to use the second one to avoid getting the others in danger. Although, the only one getting in danger was probably me.

I quickly rolled on the ground and grabbed one of the decks, making my way through the thieves. As I stood up and opened the case, I noticed that they weren't the exact same cards I had, but they _were_. They were exactly the same cards, but the design had drastically changed. It was one of my Pokémon decks that I grabbed.

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing? Give that back or you'll get in serious trouble kid!" the same thief from before said. He seemed to be the leader, since he had some sort of insignia in his shirt and was the only one doing the talking.

After turning my head around, I realized I had done quite a stupid move. I had trapped myself in the alley, and was standing next to a brick wall. I had cornered myself, and there was absolutely no way the same move was going to work again. It was only me, my backpack, and my Pokémon deck. But why not use my weapon, you might ask? Besides the obvious fact that I definitely don't know how to use a weapon, Crystal had warned me about something just before going out of the weapon store.

"Be _very_ careful when using a weapon" she said to all of us.

"Yeah, we know, we could hurt each other and stuff. That's basic" I said.

"That's not it. You _don't_ have the option of using your weapon against another person. Please, every time you guys draw out your weapon, think about this rule and _never_ forget it. _Using your weapon against another person without any special permission or any extreme reason will merit prison for the _rest _of your life_."

That was enough of a reason for not daring to draw out my weapon. For the _rest of my life_? No thanks, I had just arrived to a wonderful new world and I didn't want to be sent to prison without even knowing it. Besides, trying to get some cards back couldn't classify as extreme reason.

"Ack!" I cried, while being thrown out in the air and into the ground. I didn't even notice one of the thieves coming at me and hitting me directly on the face. My bag and all of my other stuff fell on the ground. It'd been a long time since I got into a fight with someone. I felt my right cheek cry out in pain. There was no way I was getting out of this.

"Card unlock!" a voice cried behind the thieves. I couldn't see the figure clearly, just a flare of light coming out of the machine he had in his hands. The machine? It was some sort of card machine, were people put their cards on, and they came to life, as I had seen before below the Card Game Restaurant. The card machine released a monster that I immediately recognized. It was another creature from the Final Fantasy Universe, a Hornet: a monster resembling the animal of my world, but of a much larger size.

"What's _this _guy doing here!?" the thief leader cried. By the way of how his face looked, it seemed the guy that had just appeared meant trouble for him. Was that good for me or did that make things even worse?

"What are you doing Slash? Grab your Card Unlocker and help me beat these guys up!" the black haired kid demanded. What is it with people knowing my name in this world without me not even knowing them? Guessing by the name, the Card Unlocker was probably the card machine I had been talking about before. But I didn't have one and I was still not sure about how to use it correctly…

"I don't have one!" I cried back. I was feeling a little bit more relieved than before, knowing I had at least one other guy helping me, even though I had never seen him.

"What are you talking about, Slash? It's on the floor right next to you!" he cried. On the floor right next to me? What was _he _talking about? Of course I didn't have one, I had never bought one or…

"Holy cow! When did this get here?" I cried. I didn't notice, but there was a white-orange colored "Card Unlocker" next to my bag. By the way they were lying next to each other; it seemed as if it had been inside my bag, and had slipped out after it was sent flying. It was made out of a light but resistant kind of metal. It was shaped like a rectangle, and on the top part it had a slot for placing a single card. On the bottom, it had another slot for placing a coin, and right next to it, a small LCD screen, probably for displaying information.

"Okay then, might as well give it a try!" I cried. I felt excited. Will this actually work? The only cards I had with me were the ones of the Pokémon deck I had picked up earlier. Putting all of my hope on my cards, I chose the first card I had and slided it into the Card Unlocker. "Card unlock!!!" I cried as hard as I could.

Immediately, the machine let out a flash of red light, and out of it, came out one of my deck's Pokémon. It was Charmander, the lizard-like fire Pokémon. Once again, I couldn't believe my eyes, but I knew it was there, my own flesh and meat Charmander.

"Interesting, I had never seen one of those monsters before. But can it sustain a fight against my own monster?" he said, with a lot of confidence. What was coming out of his Card Unlocker was definitely something I didn't want to see. At least _not_ right now. The thief leader summoned a Sahagin, a blue fish-like monster with claws. It might not be a powerful creature, but unfortunately, it's Charmader's weakness - water. Apparently, the other two thieves had Sahagin monsters as well.

"Slash, you take their leader! I'll take these two guys" the black haired kid told me.

Having no other option, I told my Charmander to attack. "Charmander, Flamethrower!" I cried. Charmander turned around, looked at me, and nodded. He then let a powerful fire attack against the Sahagin.

"Fire? Are you dumb or what?" the thief leader said. "Attack back with water, Sahagin!" he cried. Sahagin lead out a water attack against Charmander, canceling the attack immediately and badly hurting Charmander in the process.

"Darn! Charmander, are you ok!?" I cried, running towards Charmander, throwing myself on the ground and sliding just in time to catch him. "Charmander, are you all right?" I asked.

"Slash! Don't give up! You've got more cards with you, don't you? Use them!" the black haired guy cried. I was holding Charmander, sitting on the ground. Was there really any way out of this with Charmander this injured?

I grabbed my deck and went through my cards, until one of them caught a glimpse in my eye. One that might be my only option, one that might save me from the thieves.

"It's all or nothing! Unlock – Pokémon Breeder!" I cried, sliding the card onto my card unlocker.


End file.
